December 18, 2013 Edition

Hoxie budget meeting slated

Megan Heyl
Staff Writer

Due to various complications, a finalized 2014 budget for the city of Hoxie was not presented at the city council meeting Monday night.

"This was by far the hardest budget to put together," Mayor Lanny Tinker said. The budget is nearing completion but Tinker asked for more time to work on it to ensure the budget is accurate and for it to benefit the city as much as possible.

"Overall, income is down and expenses are up almost department wide," Tinker said. He offered some solutions, including cutting down to once-a-week trash pickup and some department restructuring.

The council will meet Dec. 30 at noon for the final review and approval of the 2014 budget.

Also at the meeting, Charles Snapp with the Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce presented plans for new welcome signs for Hoxie and Walnut Ridge. Tinker offered the use of the city's backhoe to aid in the installation at the Hoxie city limits.

Also at the meeting, the council:

accepted the recommendation of the Reuse Committee to release the second mortgage on a house in Black Rock owned by Danny Simpson. Simpson will be selling the house and paying the city $10,000 on his reuse loan, leaving him $36,000 yet to pay and his commercial business and three lots left as collateral.

acknowledged the resignation of Assistant Fire Chief Will Tate and Matt Cook with code enforcement.

approved a small tool and attractive item policy that will use a numbering system to increase accountability of items owned by the city.

reviewed the draft of the 2014 Personnel Policy Handbook. It will include increased accountability and a policy on personnel evaluations. The handbook will be approved at the next meeting.